This biography chronicles the lives of five daring Circes
of the silver and silent screen. It is a prime example of the many books about
old Hollywood published in the early 1970s during a boom of nostalgia brought about
by Watergate and the Vietnam War. That is, this biography is rich in readable
anecdotes that mix misfortune and absurdity.

Theda Bara used her striking eyes, bold manner and skimpy
outfits to seduce audiences, dazzle press agents, and enrage local censorship
committees. Barbara LaMarr had that air of nursing a secret sorrow that some
men find enthralling; pining in jail cell, one of her husbands called out her name as
he bashed his head against a wall and later died of a blood clot. None of these
actresses was emotionally or philosophically equipped to deal with Tinsel Town fame
and fortune (who is, really?), but Pola Negri drew on her passionate Polish soul
to protect her integrity by out-diva-ing everybody. Mae Murray was a dancing blonde whose lip-sticked
cupid lips earned her the nickname The Girl with the Bee-stung Lips.” Her story
is probably the second saddest in the book, after Clara Bow’s descent into
nervous breakdowns, madness and death in a sanitarium.

Zierold spends excessive time describing the opulent life styles and habits of conspicuous consumption of the stars. He balances this by judiciously quoting knowledgeable critics and culture mavens from the 1920s. It’s interesting how little things change. Audiences at that time really were impressionable, mistaking vamping appearances for reality, just as many people nowadays, for example, assume that Jennifer Lawrence is just as down to earth as any 25-year-old from Pendleton, New York. Also, critics back then were just as snarky and sharp as they are on the web today, but criticism never seems to make movies any better.